One of the biggest problems with allowing homeless people to camp on public property isn’t that it’s unsanity and unsightly, it’s that there are frequently fires breaking out in these spaces. Monday a huge fire broke out at a camp across the street from one of Google’s major hubs in Seattle.

Seattle encampment, fire pic.twitter.com/MnwOwIUdiw

— Glenn E. Malone, EdD (@GEMalone) August 15, 2023

Lots of video of this because it could be seen from all over the city.

Something is seriously on fire around Eastlake in Seattle right now pic.twitter.com/vzt50fOQ7J

— Sergey Yun (@iskra_9) August 15, 2023

Fire near downtown Seattle #fire #seattle pic.twitter.com/2WbEDuJfA3

— Hayssam (@destinatepath) August 15, 2023

Firefighters spent an hour putting it out. Yesterday a homeless man who has lived at the camp for at least a year was arrested for “reckless burning.”

WHAT A SCENE OFF I-5: Man arrested for reckless burning after fire erupts at Mercer Street encampment in Seattle

More from our @RyanTVnews here: https://t.co/0C3MjDmHUW pic.twitter.com/YcPxEzPTsU

— Steve McCarron KOMO (@SteveTVNews) August 15, 2023

As mentioned in that report, this isn’t the first time this particular camp has made the news. There have been at least eight previous fires there and in March a woman’s body was found at the camp and her death was ruled a homicide.

A medical examiner’s report identifies the woman as Annette Barnes and suggests she died four days before her body was discovered in an encampment on Mercer Street in South Lake Union on March 14.

The report said Barnes died from asphyxia due to manual strangulation and suffocation.

A neighbor who asked to not be identified told KOMO News on Tuesday that she is considering moving out of South Lake Union due to the city and state’s inaction to clear the encampment.

“I want to feel safe again. The police keep getting these phone calls, the fire department keeps getting these phone calls, but nobody is doing anything. If I continue not feeling safe, there’s no way I can keep living here anymore,” she said.

Months later, no one has been arrested in connection with her death. But in a curious twist, the homeless man who discovered the body at the camp in March is the same person who was arrested for starting the fire Monday. His name is Paris Alcantara.

BACK IN MARCH: Alcantara was calm, cool, and collected as he described seeing the dead woman’s body in the encampment. #Seattle #KingCounty https://t.co/qzXtU1zKCl

— Jonathan Choe Journalist (Seattle) (@choeshow) August 15, 2023

Monday’s fire isn’t even the most serious homeless camp fire to happen in Seattle recently. In July, the former leader of a camp site adjacent to Harborview Medical Center set bombs at his former camp in an act of revenge.

The explosion and fire at the encampment happened on the morning of July 21. Photos and video from the morning show tall flames and a large plume of black smoke billowing over the Seattle skyline that could be seen for miles…

According to the police report, the large fire was the result of “multiple explosive devices” being detonated as part of an ongoing battle for control of the drug trade among the homeless. Witnesses told investigators the explosion was a targeted attack on a fentanyl tent where 20 “customers” were inside using drugs, the report says…

According to the report, people who survived the bombing told investigators the former leader of the encampment had recently been replaced and had returned with a gun to rob those inside the fentanyl tent.

A witness said the former leader of the camp was known to make explosive devices from plastic buckets and had been teaching people in the encampment how to make the improvised explosive devices. According to court documents, the suspect is also connected to drug trafficking operations in the area of 12th Avenue and Jackson Street in Seattle…

“Shame on them for letting this happen. The police not being able to do anything about this is outrageous,” [local resident Vicky] Young said. “They’re not homeless camps, they’re drug camps.”

This is apparently the new thing in Seattle. Drug dealers have learned that the homeless have been given free reign on Washington State Department of Transportation owned property so they’ve set up little drug dens inside the camps. No police ever show up and nothing is done.

This is basically CHAZ/CHOP all over again except because it’s on DOT property no one cares until there’s a literal explosion and a fire that threatens high-rise homes or a major hospital. Only then does the mayor secure permission to clear the charred rubble of the camp. But more homeless move in as soon as the area has been cleaned up. Here’s a local news report on last month’s drug den bombing.